San Jose Giants doesn't have the same ring as San...

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January 19, 1992|By Bob Rubin, Miami Herald

San Jose Giants doesn't have the same ring as San Francisco Giants, but there's one huge plus to the club's likely move 55 miles south in '96. The worst ball park in baseball will become just a bad memory.

So long, gusting, swirling wind.

So long, damp, bone-chilling cold.

So long, glaring, blinding sun.

So long, pea-soup fog.

So long, flying dirt and debris.

So long, 30-degree temperature drops.

So long, Stick.

If you wanted to pick the worst place possible for a park, you couldn't have done much better than Candlestick Point, a spit of land adjoining San Francisco Bay south of the city. If Elton John had written a song about it, he'd have called it Wind in the Candle. ''The Hawk'' is what they call the blast of air that whips in off the water, bounces off Bay View Hill just to the west of the park and swirls capriciously over the playing surface.